Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

come a cropper

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.53 in modern English

Syllables: come a crop-per
IPA

22

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To fall headlong from a horse.

verb

To suffer some accident or misfortune; to fail.

British usage

verb

To die.

Informal

Example Sentences

"She came a cropper on the stairs and broke her leg."
"I should feel certain that I should come a cropper, but still I'd try it. As you say, a fellow should try."
"You couldn't help feeling he'd be caught out one day, and then what an almighty cropper he'd come!"
"We are accustomed to seeing Morphy conquer brilliantly against great odds; but this time he comes a cropper."
"You tried to convey too much and you conveyed nothing. You came a cropper, major."
"We had been taught Latin, French and German grammar; but English grammar was something we felt we were expected to infer from our reading – which is doubtless why I came a cropper over “its” and “it’s”."

Etymology

Possibly from the phrase neck and crop, in which crop may refer to the backside of a horse.

Usage

British usage
Informal

Inflected Forms

comes a cropper (present, singular) coming a cropper (participle, present) came a cropper (past)

Phrases

neck and crop

Frequently Paired Words

neck and crop

Synonyms

go a cropper

Questions

What does come a cropper mean?: To fall headlong from a horse.
Where does come a cropper come from?: Possibly from the phrase neck and crop, in which crop may refer to the backside of a horse.

How to pronounce come a cropper

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